Language of Four Syllables

Japanese is a four-beat language. Japanese people find four-syllable words comfortable to the ear. In fact, a majority of Japanese abbreviations have four syllables (or moras)—for example, "pa-so-ko-n" for a personal computer, "ko-m-bi-ni" for a convenience store and "O-ni-o-ta" for an Onitsuka otaku.

Even haiku and tanka poems, which have five-seven-five and five-seven-five-seven-seven syllabic patterns respectively, are in fact four-beat:

(Now I cannot see / Through your heart / But in my old hometown / Flowers are giving off sweet perfume / Just as they used to)